— By Dr. Mark Shipp / Austin Graduate School of Theology

I first met Mark when he was at the end of his high school years. I was in middle school and recall a very bright young man who also was proficient at guitar. We enjoyed the latest American hits from John Denver and others on the lawn of the camp my father built, as well as when the boys would serenade the girls and then talent show nights. His parents were on a mission team in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais state, Brazil.

Our mission teams were close spiritually and emotionally though about 10 hours drive apart. Our parent’s mission teams went to the annual Pan American lectures together annually among other missionary conferences. Those were very close and fun years with a lot of good learning in between.

Mark is a graduate of Abilene Christian University and received his Ph.D in Old Testament at Princeton University. At the moment he teaches Old Testament at Austin Theological Seminary in Austin, TX. He and his wife also teach a families class called Homebuilders at his local congregation.

The following Q&A came from his Homebuilders class on difficult passages of the Bible. I hope you find these upbuilding and educational as I did.

Responses to Homebuilders Class
(questions about how to read the Old Testament and teach it to their children)

Q: As Christians, are we called to a faith that believes that everything written
in the OT literally happened the exact way it is written?

Mark: I’m not sure I understand the question. What does it mean that “everything literally happened”? When I read any kind of literature, I expect to read it according to the type or genre of literature that it is. I do not read poetry the way I read prose. I do not read parables the way I read historical narrative. If you are asking whether scripture is a sure guide to faith and godliness, the answer is an unequivocal “yes.” Having said this, the ancients did not write history the way we do. Some historical narratives are more like sermons, some events are not reported sequentially, and some events and reports were apparently compelling to ancients which we find less compelling. Likewise, history can be compressed and telescoped in manners a modern historian would not do.